These 7 kingdoms were once part of a vast human empire and part of the foundation for the term "Eastern Kingdoms" along with the Dwarven kingdoms. What I'd like to know is what has become of their people beyond the obvious? It seems that Blizzard has determined to never even explore the lore behind these kingdoms in-game let alone give players any means to interact with them on the level we can with Stormwind.

We know that Stormwind is well... Stormwind and seemingly the only kingdom human players are supposed to represent. Lordaeron is of course the home of the Forsaken, as if that could be shoved down our throats any more than it already has. Dalaran is of course a semi-neutral faction of it's own ruled by human mages who broke away from Stromgarde and now just are kind of there. Gilneas, obviously, is a part of the Alliance as the Worgen-cursed people so we have that covered, even if it's rather nondescript and bland. It's rather a shame that Blizzard hasn't done more with Gilneas, and even hindered it with the scrapping of the "Battle for Gileans City" in favor of that tiny little BG.

Stromgarde is an abandoned plot of land in the Arathi Highlands which is just sort of there, a shell of a once great place to be. There are rumors that Blizzard could be doing more with the zone but given Blizzard's lazy attitudes towards revitalization, and the Alliance in general, I'm inclined to think that there won't be anything done with the humans of Arathor/Stromgarde.

Kul Tiras is SUPPOSEDLY still around though it's completely MISSING from the map in WoW and only Tol Barad (it's great prison island) has been imagined in-game and explored. Word has it that they still exist as part of the Alliance fleet and are a guard against murloc, naga, and pirate predation on the Eastern Kingdoms' western front. It's been stated that at some point we WILL get to see this place but I doubt it's going to be as exciting for the Alliance, given the fact that we still are all Stormwindians.

The point here is, what do you guys think of these kingdoms and from a roleplaying perspective, what's the word on RP'ing one of these kingdom's citizens, soldiers, or nobles?

You can RP a citizen from any of the seven kingdoms with no issues. There are plenty of people from the various kingdoms around on our server. As far as their in-game presence, all of them are portrayed in accord with how they should be.

Lordaeron is the Forsaken's territory, though the Alliance makes efforts to reclaim it. Arathor stands destroyed, as it should, with its remaining peoples scattered or holed up in Refuge Point. Dalaran was always separate from the human kingdoms, distrusted and aloof, though Jaina has pledged the Kirin Tor to the Alliance following the Purge. Gilneas is where it belongs, though it's gotten very poor lore treatment. Stormwind has been restored as the capital of the humans after its destruction in the First War.

The only kingdom not shown in the game is Kul Tiras, and that's because there's been no reason to. They aren't contributing to the story, and adding the island nation into the game would simply give the Alliance another island to go do quests on that involve killing naga and murlocs (the current situation on Kul Tiras being exactly that, swarmed by naga and murlocs).

Lukar is correct in his assessment of the various Human kingdoms which lay scattered about. There really is no issue in Rping origins or involvement with any of the named nations.

There is a neat thing to mention that one may do with Alterac though, if you are willing to go the lengthy mile. Grinding against the Ravenholdt faction will gain Syndicate reputation at a slow rate. Being the Syndicate originated from the scattered and disbanded nobility of Alterac is it a unique, albeit tedious, endeavor to pursue so that members of said organization become neutral to you. Opens up quite a few locations for RP without pesky mob interruption. Simply a nice detail to have should one wish to RP origins among them.

I personally love the old Human kingdoms and what little lore we have on them. I wish they would be revitalized and expanded upon further. Perhaps one day, when Blizzard gets around to it...

I personally would like to RP as a descendant of the Arathi. The Red Fist and the White Gryphon/Eagle. I've actually seen a few guilds pretending to be a part of it, though they don't seem very dedicated to the idea.

If it doesn't make sense to be a son of Arathor, than Kul Tiras is definitely my second choice because they actually exist. It looks like it will be two or even 3 expansions till the possibility even opens up on Alliance lore. I have my other Allies planned out pretty nicely, including a wildhammer shaman, moonkin druid, and a tush'ui monk, but I'm not sure what I want to do with my human warrior. Being just another stormwind guard is cool in it's own right, but I'd prefer to do something more in line with my relate-able heritage.

I get the feeling that Arathi descendents are kind of like the Irish who joined the english/americans in Stormwind, so I want to emulate that in-character. Not to mention my family coat of arms is the same colors and similar heraldry to Arathor's!

Nolan wrote:I personally would like to RP as a descendant of the Arathi.

People have. Lerossa, who used to play on RH, had Stromgarde as his Forsaken warrior's pre-death home. Grathier's mentioned OOCly to me that Grathier's got Arathi ancestry; I'm not sure if he's worked that fact into his RP or not.

Dinpik wrote:Grathier's mentioned OOCly to me that Grathier's got Arathi ancestry; I'm not sure if he's worked that fact into his RP or not.

Yeah, Barnaby has a drop or two of Arathi blood. His father was a retired Stromgarde Captain who broke his leg and couldn't follow Danath through the portal.

I can't really openly weave it into RP (he doesn't know ICly, tbh), but here are a few obvious traits that he inherited from his father. He hardly ever gets sick, and a serious illness will keep him down for a fraction of the time it would someone else. In fact, he's been exposed to plague twice during his service as a marine and has been (seemingly) unscathed. He also draws from a strong natural talent that could let him succeed at anything if he puts his mind at it, particularly soldier skills.

And no matter how much he drinks and smokes, he'll probably live past a hundred.

Since we now have an incredible number of Emerald Dreamers running around in our landscape, I will point out that there is/was a guild on ED called, "The Kingdom of Arathi", which based itself out of Stromgarde and held/holds quite a few events on that realm involving the Arathi Highlands.

Barkston was part of it, but found them to be a bit select in who they rp'd with within the guild, so I pulled him out. When I left, it had 300 members, all dressed in a uniform of red/gold and would ride patrols around the land. Even held epic battles against the Forsaken - riding in formation and squaring off against the horde forces in Hillsbrad.

The RP was weak, but the scale and scope was impressive, and certainly made an impression.

Something that doesn't get told enough is that Stormwind should really have a lot more refugees from other kingdoms than it has original citizens seeing as it was destroyed twice in the first two wars.

I see absolutely no reason to say that its impossible to RP people from different countries, especially with how Stormwind is the only one left standing and/or present in-game.